This is a beaded object from Turkana. The Turkana are a Nilotic ethnic group of agro-pastoral herders living in northern Kenya. The Turkana are famous for their dress code with beads as an essential component of an everyday dress. Among the Turkana, Beads signify age grade, marital status, and station in society. Most Turkana pieces have multiple colored beads (white, red, yellow, brown, black, green and blue) strapped as decorations to a strip of cloth, animal hide or piece of leather.
This is a fine example of an old Turkana Cache skirt. Such skirts were worn as aprons by young unmarried Turkana women to cover their private parts. The skirt has an ornated beautiful beaded design throughout the front and leather at the back. The thick layer of leather at the back is old and shows traces of usage but still in good condition.
Material: Leather and beads
Age: approximately 50-60 yrs
Origin: Kenya
Condition: Good
- SKU: LBDL-005
- Weight: 0.8 kg
- Dimensions: 18 x 53 x 0.3 cm
Gallery image ID’s: 45,844,585